It’s Trinity Sunday, perhaps the least favourite Sunday of the church calender for ‘preachers’. I mean it’s hard enough to preach on things we think we understand Read more →
May 17, 2020 – Being Church in the time of Coronavirus
By now you may have heard that churches can start meeting in person again beginning next week. But there are still a few conditions. Read more →
April 26, 2020 – On the Road Again
No one knows where Emmaus is, it’s never been found by archaeologists, but that hasn’t stopped people from claiming that they know where it is, or was. Like almost every place connected with a biblical reference in Israel, multiple sites claim a connection with the biblical Emmaus. Read more →
April 19, 2020 – Between Blind Faith and Blind Doubt
When I say the name Thomas, what’s the first word that enters your mind? If you’re like most people, the word that is most associated with Thomas is ‘doubting.’ Doubting Thomas. The two words are so familiar in their pairing that even people who have little or no idea of what’s in the rest of the Bible know that Doubting Thomas refers to that disciple who wouldn’t believe that Jesus had been resurrected unless he was able to see him face to face and put his finger in the mark of the nails and his hand in his side. Read more →
April 12, 2020 – An Empty Easter
This is an Easter like no Easter that any of us have ever experienced. No time in modern history has there been a time like this when the vast majority of churches will be closed during the holiest day of the Christian year. Read more →
April, 5, 2020 – The Beginning of the End
It’s Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week of the Christian calendar. We call the text we just read, the triumphal entry. But it’s hardly that! I mean what’s so triumphal about riding to your death, to a crucifixion? What’s so great about being arrested, humiliated, betrayed, tortured and then hung on a cross to die, like a common criminal? Read more →
March 29, 2020 – Why wait until you’re dead to truly live!
Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” I’ve probably quoted this verse in almost every funeral I have ever officiated at. They are words of great comfort and great promise. Read more →
March 22, 2020 – God is with us!
On Monday of this week, I ventured into our local Costco. It’s not something I would have normally done given the circumstances, but I got a call that our canvas print of Jesus, the photo mosaic composed from thousands of small pictures of our congregation, was ready for pick up. I told my wife that I was going, and she said, well if you’re going to go, you might as well pick up some chicken. Okay, I said. I went and I dutifully wiped down the handle on the shopping cart and proceeded down to the meat department. I was unprepared for what I saw. Read more →
March 15, 2020 – A Man, a Woman and a Well
Social distancing. That’s a term I wasn’t familiar with until late this week. Of course, it refers to keeping a particular distance from others in this period of viral transmission. All of us are encouraged to follow the advice from our medical experts in trying to flatten the curve of transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Read more →
March 8, 2020 – Sequence Matters
Before we get into our text from Genesis 12 this morning, we need a bit of background. Abram, who will later be called Abraham, is descended from Noah, through Noah’s son Shem. Abram’s father was Terah and he lived in a land called Ur of the Chaldeans, which was in what is present day Iraq, near the Euphrates River. Read more →